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daveinpublicity
Participating Frequently
May 18, 2011
Open for Voting

P: Inline, on canvas Smart Object Editing (Symbols)

  • May 18, 2011
  • 27 replies
  • 3166 views

Brief title for your desired feature:
Inline Smart Object Editting

How would you like the feature to work?
Make Smart Objects editable without double clicking them. Add a drop down arrow so that you can see all of the layers (just like folders). Then, you can edit right there. If you have multiple instances of the smart object, you can watch them all update together.

Why is this feature important to you?
For one, I could edit more quickly. Also, with this functionality I would be able to edit projects in an 'environment'. If I'm making a backdrop for a stage (which I do), I can take a picture of the stage, and work on the project within the actual stage, and make a better composition that is more cohesive with the surroundings. When you're done, you can just export the smart object, it's already got the right dpi, dimensions, color mode.... it's done. I could paint light shadows in the main canvas over areas that are in the dark, so that I automatically make those colors brighter in the 'smart object' (that feels like a folder) without even thinking. I could place objects in front of the smart object that will be covered by a speaker or a person. You could also use it for product design, to create a label directly on a bottle. Or if you want to create entire projects in one psd, where you've got an empty business card, dvd, dvd box, poster, all in one file and in one fell swoop you finish the whole job. I could see it used for billboard designs, and many other projects.

BTW, you could make two modes for Smart Objects. When you first place/create a smart object, it is in normal mode. But, as soon as you skew it (to give it perspective, or just to squash it), it enters perspective mode. When you choose the brush tool and paint on a layer in a smart object in 'perspective' mode, you see a light green square on top of the smart object that represents the smart object's boundaries if it were flat. As you paint in the light green boundaries, you see the edits happening in the skewed perspective of the smart object. That could be very handy for many different scenarios. Same with the type tool and every other tool.

    27 replies

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    TheManPerry
    Participant
    November 18, 2021

    I know, I know, I know...Smart Object, double-click, edit, save, ...

     

    Still seems to me like my computer, in the year 2021, should be able to crunch enough numbers to have at least 1 realtime, transformable, exact copy of a layer in my Photoshop layer stack. I could really use such a feature right now and I'm still blown away that such a feature doesn't exist in the most powerful pixel-pushing app of all time.

     

    Or, maybe I need to be educated on the subject again?

      Bob_Hallam
      Bob_Hallam
      Legend
      November 18, 2021

      What are you trying to acomplish?  Nan you requrst this in the form of a question?  I'm sure someone here can help you.  

      ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.
      AlphaOri
      AlphaOri
      Participant
      October 6, 2021

      I would like to be able to edit smart objects "in place" meaning I don't want it to open in a new document.  I want to be able to edit it while still in the document it resides.  Imagine having to design the wheel of a car but not being able to see how it looks on the car until you're done?  This is the current experience, unless I'm missing something.

      Right now, I would have to duplicate the smart layer, then use "Convert to Layers" (thank you for that)--edit it in the context of the entire design as I want it, then drag those newly designed layers into the separate document window of a smart object I edit.

      It would be nice to have a feature as this: Right-click (on smart object) > Edit in Place.  Perhaps a dotted border around the edges of the smart object that I can turn on/off upon mouseover while editing can remind  the user they're editing a smart object.  Once complete (i.e. if the user double clicks out, or if the user clicks a "I'm done editing" button at the top of the document window), then all other smart objects update with the edited design.

      M
      Max Johnson - PlayStudios
      Known Participant
      December 18, 2019
      This would be immensely helpful for the artists at my studio. Perhaps it is more feasible to have the option to do a lower-res live-update in the main document instances when working on an embedded smart object? Then it does a true update on save?

      The closest I've gotten is by using linked objects instead and linking the main .psb *back into* the one that is supposed to be embedded and using it as the background... very jankey.
      F
      FeedbackCommunityMember
      Inspiring
      December 17, 2019


      This feature would allow you to drill inside of a smart object, while seeing it in context with the surrounding layers. Maybe it doesn't even open the smart object into a new document at all, but simply changes the layers window and scales the document resolution accordingly.

      The existing feature 'convert to layers' doesn't really fulfill the utility of this request, since this feature may alter the resolution of the smart object's content. For myself, retaining maximum resolution while shrinking an object's scale is the more useful feature of a smart object.

      In this way, my proposed feature would act similar to the 'edit in place' feature from Adobe Animate.
      andyj29576424
      andyj29576424
      Participant
      May 15, 2019

      I'm trying to find a way I could have a "master" layer style, and have changes I make to it apply to multiple layers that are in different groups.

      For instance, if I have a mobile app design, arranged into multiple groups for each app screen, and I want to change the global header color- in each screen group, there are different items overlaying the header for that screen, so I cant just have a single master "header" group. I'd like to be able to make one color change, and have it apply to any number of designated layers that are in different groups. Is this possible? Edit: I realize I could make the header background be a smart object, but wondering if there is a way to accomplish this with layer styles within the master doc

      Norman Sanders
      Norman Sanders
      Legend
      May 15, 2019

      From your description, I think you would be helped by the Layer Comps command.

      andyj29576424
      andyj29576424
      Participant
      May 15, 2019

      Thanks- I think this may be on the right track-though looking into this initially, I'm not seeing the way I could use it to make a new global change to a master layer style that is applied to multiple layers in different groups without going into each group and applying that change- For example, say I have multiple elements, buttons, etc, located in different groups,  and I want to globally change all their color overlays to a new color without having to individually change all of them 

      Beeglowbot
      Beeglowbot
      Known Participant
      August 16, 2016


      Group and Smart Object isolation mode like in Illustrator would be amazing. Especially smart object editing within the parent file with the surrounding art faded back (exactly like Illustrator) would make layouts much more streamline and efficient.
      F
      FeedbackCommunityMember
      Inspiring
      July 12, 2016
      Ahhhh, isolation mode. Love it! And then turn any JPEG or PNG into a PSD internally so we don't have to flatten the contents every time we edit one of those placed as SOs. Not that I know what is or is not possible, but really, really would like that.
      F
      FeedbackCommunityMember
      Inspiring
      July 12, 2016


      It would be nice to be able to edit the contents of a smart object in situ of its parent PSD. So when designing say a website, you have a linked smart object for the header. When double clicking it, instead of opening a new window with the smart objects contents it changes the layers panel to show its contents and fades out the rest of the design slightly (like illustrator does). That way you can edit the contents and see it with the rest of the design around it.
      D
      dsasasa
      Participant
      July 12, 2016


      I would like the ability to edit a smart object in the original document or artboard - without opening only the element in it's own document. This would help for speed of editing when working with artboards or things that need precise sizing within another document.
      F
      FeedbackCommunityMember
      Inspiring
      May 25, 2016
      Thanks to whoever put my post in this post. Yes it would be awesome to be able to edit a smart object in place.
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